Some of my AncestryDNA Results

It’s been a while since I have posted anything on my Hilts/Hiltz side of the family. Basically because I have been busy sorting through all my DNA matches.  Since some of these matches are from my Hilts/Hiltz side of the family I thought I would share my results.

None of my matches actually share a “shaky leaf” which means there are no Shared Ancestor Hints. The main reason is that I and my matches don’t always record the Hilts/Hiltz ancestor name exactly the same. I found these matches by “searching matches” and typing in the surname of Hilts.

Here is what I have:

First of all, I expected to see as my matches, my two sisters and my brother, along with my two nephews. I understand if one nephew doesn’t show up, because perhaps he never used the Hilts spelling in his tree. However, my siblings and I are all tied to the exact same tree, since I administer all three of their tests. I first verified that we are indeed tied to the same tree which I labelled “My DNA Tree” because this is a striped down version of my tree, with no pictures, and only includes our direct ancestors and their children. I guess this is a question for Ancestry.

Otherwise, my closest match is a 4^th Cousin (possible range: 4^th-5^th cousins) for C.H. (administered by lpowell61). This match happened to be a known match.  Our closest ancestor is Lawrence Hilts and his wife Nancy. This couple is both of our’s 3^rd great grandparents.

My brother not only matches C.H. as a 4^th cousin but also ronjanhome. This match also matches Lawrence Hilts and his wife Nancy. This couple is only ronjanhome’s 2^nd great grandparents and thus we are 3^rd cousins 1x removed.

One of my sisters not only matches ronjanhome as a 4^th cousins but also matches crstearns3. However, our common ancestor with this match goes back two more generations to Lorentz Hiltz and his wife Barbara. Our common ancestor is our 5^th great grandparents and that makes us 6^th cousins. My sister must share a lot of DNA with this person to have it show up as a much closer match.

Finally my other sister not only matches ronjanhome as a 4^th cousin but also matches rrothcpa. His tree however is “locked” and thus I can’t actually see how we are related. However if I check our “Shared matches”, Q.K. (administered by contentedjoy1) and teechelle24 show up as 4^th cousin matches.

When I check out Q.K.’s tree, I do not find any Hilts branches. Perhaps this person hasn’t research their tree back far enough.  When I quickly view the surnames in her tree, none jump out as familiar. Perhaps she descends through a female Hilts and the name quickly changes from Hilts.

While teechelle24 does not have her results tied to an actual tree, when I view the results, she does have a tree tied to her account. However, in the three generations that are listed, all the names are private with the exception of her grandfather James Robbins and that name is not familiar with me yet.

When I selected “Shared Matches” for all the other 4^th cousin matches, no new names appear.  I do have more “Distant Cousin” matches, but I will save those for another day.

Edith (Hilts) Miller

I received an email yesterday from my cousin who maintains the Hilts and Hiltz

Cousin Website through MyFamily.com.

She stated that she “found a Family Group sheet on Edith Hilts for a different Miller than the David Miller she had. I do see that a different Miller man was listed in an perhaps obituary, and so there is the issue, which of the men she was married to, only one, or to both of them.”

The Edith Hilts in question is the daughter of Julius Benson Hilts and Susan Catherine Doyle.

Background information: Julius was born Jun 1855 in New York, son of Lawrence Hilts Jr and Nancy. Susan was born in 1865 in Canton, Lewis, Missouri the daughter of Peter and Barbara Doyle.

They had 10 children and as the 1910 Census states, 9 children living. Known children are Estelle (Everett Stewart), Grover Cleveland (aka Stanley Uriah), Beulah (Frank Miltenberg), Edith (our subject), Maude (Walter Eutsler), Mabel (Unknown Salisbury), Carl, Florence (Malcolm Woods) and Julius Jr.

My cousin showed Edith (b. April 1891 in Canton, Lewis, Missouri) being married to David Miller (b. 1883 in Canton, Lewis, Missouri). She listed six children as follows: Norman Lee (b. 1908 Illinois), Marion Catherine (b. 1910 CA), Daniel and David (twins b. 1911 CA), Franklin (b. 1913 CA) and Thelma (b. 1915 CA).

What I found:

Obituary for Edith Hilts Miller listing only one child Thelma Ripple and siblings, Beulah Miltenberg, Betty Salisbury, Margaret Woods, Maude Eutsler and Carol Hilts along with grandson Rodney and granddaughter Diana Heintz plus 2 great grandchildren. (This matches our Edith Hilts).

In 1910 US Census, David 35 and wife Edith 19 who have been married 3 years, is living with Edith’s sister Estelle and her husband Everett. (This matches our known facts).

In 1920 US Census, Edith (26) is living with husband Albert (35) and daughter Selma (4) and Edith’s sister Beulah Hennegin. (Question: Is Albert and David the same man?)

in 1930 US Census, Edith (35) with husband Albert (45) with daughter Thelma (14). It also states that Albert’s age at first marriage was 39 (6 years ago) and Edith’s was 20 (15 years ago). Thus their first marriages were not with each other.

Also in 1930 US Census, David (57) is married to Alta (36) and David’s two children Catherine and Daniel are living with them along with Alta’s two children. It also states that David was 33 at first marriage (24 years ago) and Wife was 17 (19 years ago) and thus their first marriages were not with each other.

Conclusion: David’s age at first marriage matches closely to what the 1910 census states. It appears that Edith is fudging her age by four years and her age at first marriage by four years.

In 1940, Albert (56) and Edith (46) are living with grandson Rodney Joseph Grant (6) in CA.

I found birth certificate transcriptions online for Norman, Marion Catherine, David and Daniel listing either David Miller and Edith Hilts as parents or mother’s maiden name as Hilts.

I don’t find anything on Franklin.

At first overview, it appears that Edith did marry to different Miller Men, first David and then Albert. I found Albert’s obituary listing Edith as his wife and Thelma Ripple as his daughter. I need to further investigate this family.

However, at this time, I am still working on cleaning up my files and thus I will print these notes out for another day of investigation.